RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maryland >> Charles County >> Bannister >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Bannister, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bannister and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Bannister:
    • 38.594842, -76.902472
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Bannister
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Charles County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Charles County
    • Since Bannister is near Prince George's County and also Saint Mary's County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince George's County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Mary's County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Bannister

Communities Also Named Bannister ...

We found nine communities that are also named Bannister.

Within Maryland, the name Bannister is unique.

Beyond Maryland, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Saline County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Bannister [Saline County].
    • California
      • Kern County
      • This Bannister is located in Kern County and lies 2,320 miles [3,733.7 km]<2> to the west of the Bannister that is located in Charles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kern County community of Bannister.
    • Georgia
      • Cherokee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Bannister [Cherokee County].
    • Idaho
      • Lemhi County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Idaho community of Bannister [Lemhi County].
    • Illinois
      • Marion County
      • This Bannister is located in Marion County and lies 644 miles [1,036.4 km]<2> to the west of the Bannister that is located in Charles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Bannister.
    • Louisiana
      • Beauregard Parish
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Bannister [Beauregard Parish].
    • Michigan
      • Gratiot County
      • This Bannister is located in Gratiot County and lies 501 miles [806.3 km]<2> to the northwest of the Bannister that is located in Charles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gratiot County community of Bannister.
    • Missouri
      • Camden County
      • This Bannister is located in Camden County and lies 871 miles [1,401.7 km]<2> to the west of the Bannister that is located in Charles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Camden County community of Bannister.
    • Washington
      • Yakima County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Washington community of Bannister [Yakima County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Bannister ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Beantown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Beantown is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beantown
  • Berry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Berry is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berry
  • Constitution Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Constitution Hills is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Constitution Hills
  • Deerwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Deerwood is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerwood
  • Delight
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Delight is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delight
  • Forest Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Forest Grove is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Grove
  • Forest Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Forest Park is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Park
  • Fox Run
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Fox Run is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Run
  • Green Acres
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Green Acres is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Holly Station
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Holly Station is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Station
  • Hunters Farms
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Hunters Farms is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Farms
  • Hunters Ridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Hunters Ridge is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Ridge
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Kings Grant
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Kings Grant is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Grant
    • Lynnbrook
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Lynnbrook is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynnbrook
    • Lyons Corner
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Lyons Corner is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyons Corner
    • Meadowbrook
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Meadowbrook is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
    • Rosewick
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Rosewick is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosewick
    • Spring Valley
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Spring Valley is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
    • Springhaven
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Springhaven is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springhaven
    • Sunnyside
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Sunnyside is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
    • Turkey Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Turkey Hill is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Hill

How Far From Bannister to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Bannister to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Bannister and extending to:

  • La Plata, which is the Seat of Charles County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 34 miles [54.7 km]<2> to the northeast (NE). If you could walk a straight line from Bannister to Annapolis, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 22 miles [35.4 km] to the north northwest (NNW). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,905 miles [9,503.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,608 miles [10,634.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,485 miles [7,217.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Bannister could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Bannister) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Bannister, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<5>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Bannister to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bannister. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5948, Longitude: -76.9025       In this case, the coordinates for Bannister have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.829 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.324 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.774 degrees.